Coats Urges Senate to Pass a Budget

01/31/13 Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Senior Senate Republican on the Joint Economic Committee Wednesday spoke on the Senate floor to discuss the need for the Senate to offer and pass a budget. Coats noted it has been 1,372 days since the Senate has passed a budget.

The following are excerpts from his speech:

“It has been 1,372 days since the Senate has passed a budget. Nearly four years since our government has operated on a budget plan. That is completely irresponsible.”

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“Every Hoosier family and every business in Indiana knows that you cannot be successful and financially sound without creating a budget. Restaurants and coffee shops create a budget. Little league baseball organizations have budgets. Our communities and states have budgets.”

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“We all have things we would like to do, but are forced to make hard choices by setting a budget. It’s no different than a family having financial difficulties and saying that our annual trip to Disney World just can’t happen this year because dad’s paycheck isn’t bringing in the kind of money it used to or we’re not in the financial position to do what we would like to do so therefore we have to make some changes and we have to make some adjustments. Maybe this year we need to go to Brown County State Park, which by the way is an exceptional park in Indiana and a great place for family vacations. But it is a priority decision – the kind of decision you have to make when you simply don’t have the revenue to do everything you would like to do.”

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“It is our legal duty and I believe our moral duty to present to the American people a budget plan indicating how we intend to spend their taxpayer dollars.”

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“If we don’t put together a Senate budget, lay out our priorities and create a long-term economic plan to reform our spending habits, we are going to face a debt-induced catastrophe that will make the economic downturn we experienced a few years ago look like child’s play.”

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“The president has made it clear the past few years when he proposed his budgets that he is not serious about leading the discussion on the fiscal challenges facing us. His budgets have been so unserious that not one senator, not even a single Democrat voted for the president’s plan. That’s a very sad reality when the leader of our country can’t even put forward an honest and serious budget outlining his priorities.”

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“Strengthening our country and putting us back on a sustainable path will not be easy; it will require some sacrifices, but these are the responsibilities we have and we must take this first step. It starts with a budget.”

Audio and video of the speech is available by clicking here or on the image below.

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